An experimental analysis on the design of HTS current lead with respect to the arrangement of coated conductor and the shape of a current terminal

Many researches on the application of superconducting tapes for large current apparatus have been conducted because of their advantages of low resistance and high efficiency. In the applications, superconducting tapes which are available below a critical current density should be arranged in the stacking or parallel structure for increasing a current capacity. However it is difficult to achieve large current capacity in each structure as much as expected; a simple stacking structure has a current distribution problem due to contact resistance between superconducting tapes and a parallel structure has the spatial limitation. In order to reduce the contact resistance, superconducting tapes should be stacked vertically and these tapes are connected by solder; therefore large current capacity can be achieved. In this paper, a design of a copper terminal for HTS current lead using a stacked HTS tapes and a parallel arrangement of stacked HIS tapes were analyzed and the operating characteristics were proved by experimental analysis. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.